Although they've been gone neigh on some 66-plus years, two of Marion's famous Cherry Sisters are still entertaining guests.

As it turns out, plenty of people inquire about where the sisters were buried after their storied lives. Eric Lunquist has worked at the Murdoch-Linwood Funeral Home in Cedar Rapids for the last 18 years.

"Each year since I've worked here, a number of people show up … to ask about the Cherry Sisters," he said. "Both Addie and Effie are here. Other than those having living relatives, I think it's the most visited grave site at Linwood Cemetery on a constant basis. The Cherry sisters have no close relatives, if any, that we know about.

"It's not a big granite monument," he continued. "It's rather modest. Part of the story is that after they received national notoriety, they came home and died so poorly. It really was a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. It was the Cedar Rapids Sunshine Mission that provided their burial plots here. Over the years the mission helped out a lot of needy families."

The Cherry Sisters (Addie (1859 - 1942), Effie (1876 - 1944), Ella (1863-1934), Lizzie, (1863 - 1936) and Jessie Cherry (1872 - 1903)) lived on a farm near Marion in Linn County. The story goes that they formed their vaudeville act in the early 1890s after the death of their parents (Thomas and Laura) and the disappearance of their brother Nathan. The sisters were inspired after seeing acts perform at the Greene Opera House in Cedar Rapids. They first performed in and around Marion and then traveled nationally on the vaudeville circuits. Originally all five sisters were involved; however, the eldest, Ella, retired from the stage before 1896, with the act becoming a quartet.

Various tales have been told about the sisters' act. Some argue they presented morality plays and sang badly but played it straight. But stories are told that later they performed behind wire mesh so people could throw things at them. They may have been the first act to be called so bad they were good.

At the height of their career, performing on both the Orpheum and Keith circuits, they made $1,000 a week, which was substantial in the pre-income tax, non-inflated days of the 1890s. One critic wrote of the sisters: "They were just a quartet of incompetents, and were so indifferent as to their reception by the public that they were in demand for many years, at a salary far higher than would have been accorded them if they had real ability."      

In a 2005 book titled "No Applause-Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" by Trav S.D, published by Faber and Faber this story is told:

"In 1895, opera impresario Oscar Hammerstein (grandfather of the famous Broadway lyricist) erected the Olympia Theatre in New York City. In the Olympia's Music Hall, where vaudeville was presented, the Hammersteins demonstrated a flair for showmanship unmatched by any of their contemporaries. They managed to make a mint, for example, on the Cherry Sisters, an act that has become notorious in theatrical lore as the worst ever presented in vaudeville. This horrid quintet sang off-key, told unfunny jokes, and stepped all over each other's toes in the dance numbers. Audiences paid good money just to throw vegetables at them."

None other than humorist, comedian and columnist Will Rogers performed on the same bill with the sisters a number of times. The University of Oklahoma Press has published "The Papers of Will Rogers: Volume Three, FromVaudeville to Broadway." It includes a review of Rogers' act, on the same bill as the Cherry Sisters, on the prestigious Orpheum Theatre Circuit. It appeared in the South Bend, Ind., Tribune on April 13, 1913.

"Rogers has a great act. Rogers likes 'to kid' other acts on the bill, and most of his patter is made up of things in reference to acts that preceded him. This, of course, changes at every engagement and indicates his original humor and dry wit.

"A few weeks ago in La Crosse, Wis., he was on the same bill as the original Cherry Sisters, who hold the world's record in performing the worst act and getting away with it. Rogers had a lot of fun with the act, but when he made the statement, 'The Cherry sisters were evidently named before lemons were discovered,' the oldest member of the team became outraged and had him arrested. He had quite a time squaring the affair and since has been a bit cautious in reference to his personal remarks."

That's what the reviewer reported. It makes a good story, but the "Papers of Will Rogers" notes there's no evidence he was arrested. It was probably a joke. In Will's original scrapbook there's a review headlined, "Cherry Sisters and Will Rogers Divide Between Them The Honors Of The Show" on the same bill in Springfield, Ill., and in his handwriting is written "great."  

Sister Jessie Cherry died in 1903 while on tour in Arkansas, of typhoid. The sisters returned to Cedar Rapids with Effie opening up a bakery. Then in the new 20th Century, Addie and Effie hit the boards again as a duo act continuing into the mid-1920s. In the 1930s they sold the Marion family farm and were living in a Cedar Rapids rooming house.

Addie Cherry died at age 83 on October 25, 1942, and was buried at Linwood Cemetery on October 28, according to cemetery records. Effie Cherry died at age 77, almost two years later on August 5, 1944; she was buried August 7. Records state both were buried in wooden boxes in Lot 3, Block 5. Their marker can be found along a hedgerow.

The best way to find them is to ask Eric Lunquist at Linwood Cemetery. He said, "I'm happy to show visitors to the site. But don't expect to see a big monument. People sometimes think there would be a unique memorial for two who were so famous once upon a time. They can be hard to find if you don't know where to look."

The two Cherry Sisters can still be seen, or at least their headstone can be seen, during regular Linwood Cemetery hours.